


Redemption

by Polywantsanother



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-06 07:19:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11031333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polywantsanother/pseuds/Polywantsanother
Summary: THERE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A SECOND ONE.





	1. Chapter 1

How do you redeem a man who has done the worst thing?

Ask any mother. She will tell you that she will die for her child. That she will love them if even the worst happens. 

How do you redeem a man who has done the worst thing?

She loved him more than words, for words shaped the name of the man who left her. She loved him more than actions, for he had done so much to hurt her. She loved him more than things, because she would trade anything to keep him safe.

How do you redeem a man that tried to kill her son?

“Barbara.”

“Don’t talk to me looking like, that. It’s a lie, just like everything else.” Walter hesitated, but changed. 

“Barbara.” He tried again, but she only glared. Taking in a deep breath, Walter closed his eyes. Letting it out, he changed.

He became the changeling.

“It’s not a lie Barbara. It’s me. It’s who I am. This,” Walter gestured at himself. “Isn’t who I am.”

“But there is some poor child who never got to grow up to be,” Barbara gestured at him. “That.”

Walter sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. 

“Sorry doesn’t begin to cover it.” He started.

“You tried to kill. My. Son.” 

“I.” He paused and stared at her. Her face was soft and round, so unlike the trolls and changelings he was used to. Even living among the humans day after day, he had never looked at one so closely. Her eyes were a soft teal, unseen in either human or troll. 

He had met her at a Parents-Teacher night. Then, Jim was just James, his favorite student of the year. He was still bringing in the stones for the Kilahead bridge, but his human life was firmly separated from his changeling life. He had thought about what would happen when the trolls overran the earth, how he would protect Jim and his mother.

He hadn’t fallen in love with her until Jim became the Trollhunter.  
It was easy, at first, to say it was all part of the plan. To love her because it would hurt the Trollhunter. But it became a lot harder to deny, when his heart pounded when he saw her name show up on his phone.

He knew it was dangerous. Even the easiest excuse, the fact that as the principal of the school he couldn’t really be dating the parent of a student, didn’t work. How would the fact that she was the mother of his enemy change that?

He did, love her.

Now things were finished, the Trollhunter had won, and Walter was exposed for what he was.

“Everything I said was true.”

“You think I care about that?” Walter paused and looked away.

“No.” He sighed heavily, felt his cloak of bladed feathers shift as he did. 

“Why should I ever forgive you?”

“You shouldn’t.” 

“Then why this? Why try for anything more?”

“Because Jim forgave me. And I can only hope that you will, even though I can’t imagine anyone having the capacity for it.” 

“You tried to kill him!” Barbara shrieked and Walter watched as her hands clenched into tight fists.

“I killed Walter!” He yelled and Barbara stared at him, more stunned than angry.

“My mother loved a boy that stopped existing after the age of five. I didn’t feel guilty till I met you. I saw a mother love her son even though he was a constant reminder of his father. I saw a mother love her son through everything. I’m sorry,” He said. “But the woman I feel the most guilty for is Walter’s mother.” 

Barbara stopped and looked away.

“I never tried to kill him.” She felt Walter’s hand on her shoulder and she let out a breath.

“Nothing you’ve done will make me believe that.” 

“I know, okay, I know.” Walter turned away, turned back into his human form. “I picked someone who I loved instead of just someone he cared about. I didn’t choose you as my link because I wanted to protect myself, but because I wanted to protect you.”

Barbara laughed and turned away from him. 

“I love my son more than I loved you.” She said. 

“I wouldn’t love you if it were any other way.” He murmured. Barbara shook her head and looked over her shoulder at him. 

“You tried to kill my son.” 

“I know. Ok. I know.” Walter balled his hands into fists and dug them into his eyes. “It was stupid and wrong, and I never thought he would, lose.”

“Don’t even bother Walter.”

“I don’t know who to be a proper human Barbara. I’m sorry.” Barbara turned and looked at him. Walter looked haggard, older than he his physical form. 

“James forgave me. I only want the chance to make it up to you.” He said and held out his hand. Barbara looked at it and then shifted her gaze to him.

“He forgave you?” Walter nodded. Barbara turned away and clutched her own shoulders. “How?”

“Because your son is a better man than I ever could be.” Barbara turned and looked at his outstretched hand.

“I will talk. But you have a lot to explain.” Barbara put her hand in his. 

“Tell me everything.”


	2. Weakness

“Mom?”

Barbara turned as the door to her room opened a crack. She sighed and stood up.

“Come on in Jim.” The door opened fully and she watched her son step into the room. He was tall, and looked so much like his father, down to the world weary eyes that faded from time to time.

“Mom, about Mr. Strickler.” Barbara let out a guttural sound and sat back down on her bed. 

“I don’t want to hear anything more about that thing.” She seethed. Jim was silent as he walked over and sat next to her.

“I forgave him Mom.” He said and put a hand softly on her shoulder.

“And I can’t Jim. I won’t. He tried to kill you.” 

“He ended up saving my life.”

“Which wouldn’t have been in such danger if he had protected you in the beginning.” Jim winced at her words and his hand slipped away.

“He misses you.”

“I don’t care!” She stood again and stomped toward her bedroom window. “Jim, you don’t know what it’s like. You are everything to me. To lose you would be the end of everything. I don’t know if I…” She drifted. Her shoulders slumped and she bent her head toward the glass. The cool surface held firm under her forehead though she felt like she was falling. “I don’t think I would have survived losing you.”

“Mom, just, can you try? He made you so happy.”

“And it was a lie.” Her voice lowered and she closed her eyes against her tears.

“Not all of it. Mom. He does love you.”

“But I don’t love him.” She whirled around and faced her son. “How can you fault me for hating the creature that tried to kill you?” 

“Because he redeemed himself-”

“Some things are beyond redemption Jim.” She put a hand to her face and sighed. “Some people are beyond redemption.” 

Jim stood up and put his hand into his pocket.

“Blinky gave me this.” He held out a small pink vial. It was made from a highly polished stone and the body of it was wavy, but crystalline. 

“What is that?” Jim looked at it as if for the first time. He hel it up between his finger and thumb, examining it closely.

“Apparently, because trolls live for such a long time, they have a potion to use in case they have a grudge. It doesn’t make sense for them to live hundreds of years hating someone. So this makes them forget that person.” He held it out to her again. “You could use it to forget Mr. Strickler.”

Without a thought, Barbara reached out for it but stopped. Her hand hovered in the air as she looked at the vial.

Her hand clenched into a fist.

“No.” She lowered her arm and shook her head. “I don’t want to forget what he did. I don’t want to give him a chance to start over. It would just be more lies and secrets.”

Jim sighed and put the vial back into his pocket. 

“I just want you to be happy again Mom.” Barbara went to him and hugged him. Her head went to his shoulders know and she leaned her face against him.

“I’m happy that you’re alive.” Jim put his arms around her and squeezed her lightly.

“I want you to be happier.”

It didn’t take long before it exploded in her face.

A few weeks after their talk, Jim came knocking at her door again.

“Mom?” Barbara opened the door and saw her son standing awkwardly in the hall.

“Yes?” She was running late for her shift and still hadn’t put on her scrubs.

“How are you feeling?” Jim shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Barbara’s eyes narrowed.

“Fine.” She dragged out the word. “Why?”

“Well, it’s just, the vial is gone and I didn’t know if-” Barbara’s eyes widened and her hand gripped the door.

“That shape shifting bastard.”

“MOM.”

She drove directly to his house, still in her yoga pants and tank top. She drove swearing and she rubbed the hot tears from her eyes absently. 

Jim had tried to stop her and while he was certainly physically stronger than her, the sheer fact of being caught off guard and the fact that she was his mother made him more pliable. She shoved past him and into her car, barely thinking beyond visceral images.

When she got to his house, Barbara announced herself by slamming her car door shut with enough force as to rattle her window. She marched up to the door and banged on it.

“Walt! Walter you get out here NOW!” She yelled as she continued to bang. The door opened suddenly and she was standing, almost heaving, under the frightened gaze of her son’s would-be murderer.

“You were going to poison me.” She hissed. Walt’s eyes darted up and down the street.

“Can we discuss this, inside?” He asked. Barbara pushed him aside and strode into the house, only then noticing her feet were bare as they slapped against the hardwood.

“You took Jim’s potion and were going to use it on me.” She said as he closed the door. Walt let out a heavy sigh and turned to her.

“I was not going to use it on you.”

“Liar.”

“I was going to use it for myself.” She only looked at him and he sighed again. “To forget you Barbara.”

Tears now fell freely as she walked up to him and slapped him. When he didn’t react, she slapped him again.

“You coward.” Now he looked surprised and stunned. Barbara sniffled and wiped her eyes with her arm, pushing her glasses askew. 

“You think it’s okay to forget what you did? You think it’s okay to get off that easy?”

“I wouldn’t forget Jim. I wouldn’t forget what I did. Only you Barbara. Only to stop, this.” He grabbed her arms and she froze. “I am a coward because I can’t live like this with you hating me.”

Barbara broke away from him and stepped back.

“Why do I always get left with all the broken pieces then?” She started to cry and Walt went to her, gathered her into his arms.

“God, I’m sorry Barbara. I didn’t think…” He held her as he body convulsed with her sobs. As she cried, she curled her fingers into his shirt.

“I’m so angry because it was you. I trusted you. I, I loved you. And you tried to kill my son.”

“I don’t know what to do. How do I make up for such an atrocity?” He asked but his words sought no answer. He would not look to her for answers on such a matter. It was disrespectful.

“Does it make me a bad mother to forgive you?”

“I have heard of mothers forgiving worse.”

“Does it make me a bad mother to love you?”

“That I haven’t heard of before.” Walt began to stroke her hair as Barbara’s breathing evened. “Your son has done magnificent, heroic things. He has done things no human has ever been able to do before. While I can easily say that he gets his strength of character and morality from you, I will not insinuate that those reasons are why you should give me what I want.”

“But does wanting you make me a bad person?”

“I can’t answer that for you. I can only give you my selfish answer.” Barbara went silent as she thought. Her hands relaxed and she flattened her palms against his chest. She could feel the beating of his heart, feel the warmth of his skin.

“You feel like a human.”

“I desperately wish I was.”

“Jim says he forgave you.”

“Another boon of which I am undeserving.” Barbara looked up at him and moved her hands over his shoulders. Her arms hooked around his neck and she leaned up. He bent to her and his lips met hers. In a moment, she felt her body lurch and the muscles in her back tightened. She broke the kiss and moved away, shaking her head and straightening her glasses.  
“I can’t do this, not yet.”

“I’m sorry Barbara, for everything.” 

“I don’t know what to do Walt.”

“I am at a loss as well.” They looked at each other and Barbara bit the inside of her cheek.

“I have to go to work.” Walt nodded and moved back to the door, opening it slightly.

“Can I see you again?” He asked. Barbara walked to the door and he opened it fully. 

“I’ll let you know.” She walked toward her car, her steps feeling heavy, and didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A SECOND ONE.


End file.
